Most days, it’s still mild during daylight hours, although recently, in the night air, I feel the merest hint of what is in store for us. Today is the first day of October. We have entered the last quarter of 2026. There is no question about it. Summer here has ended. In a few weeks […]
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Happy National Black Dog Day! 🐕🦺
I am still not sure how we got so lucky. She came to us two days before our lives were forever changed, and I KNOW she is an angel in a dog’s body. Don’t ask me how I know this -because I don’t know- but tomorrow Thursday is National Black Dog Day. So this beauty […]
Rolling on the River
This Monday, September 28th, would’ve been our 30th Wedding Anniversary. What a beautiful day it was spent with our guests on the River Queen on the Manasquan River in New Jersey. Today, while doing some cleaning out, I came upon a framed wedding photo in the drawer of a piece of furniture I am […]
Trigger Warning ⚠️
Well, I survived Back to School Night last week. Barely. Last Thursday, after emerging from yet another funk, I showered and got ready for public consumption to go to this thing. I somehow got my cables crossed and got there late after dropping off my daughter at gymnastics 🤸🏻♀️ practice on the other side of […]
A “Weekness” for Dogs
September brings a month of mixed-emotions for me. This week for instance, I was reminded that five years ago, Rich and I were headed from Georgia to a family wedding in Virginia then on to New Jersey to help clean out our family home in New Jersey. We also made a trip to the Jersey […]
A Brief Update
Refreshed and back home after a journey with Lola to the north country to visit our old friends, I’ve taken a few days to get back into the swing of things. After eating too much and taking some serious time to relax, I’ve been slower than I’d hoped to ramp up my exercise schedule. However, […]
September Morn …
Stay with me awhile I only wanna talk with you Losing Jim has brought back many of the feelings I had when I lost Vern nearly 16 years ago. Of course, those feelings never really went away but were tucked in a safe space most days. Perhaps this is a blessing. Both of my men […]
My “Old Florida” Haven
Last Tuesday brought the third anniversary of the closing on the purchase of my log home in rural Florida. So much has changed since I landed in this place that a friend once described as being in the middle of the middle of nowhere. Some days it does seem that way, but there is something […]
Dear September …
I am not asking for a new life Just a softer space inside this one ~Jess Baird I miss those days I had at the beach but it’s rather nice to be home. Even though I’ve considered moving, this is where I need to be right now. Probably not forever. But who knows? I’m […]
The Art of Good Memories
Seems like I was just writing about the Memorial Day and Fourth of July holidays and now here we are at the unofficial end of the Summer of 2026 and Labor Day. Weekends, especially holiday weekends, can be hard on the widowed no matter the point in time of our loss. Once a time of […]
In With The Old 📜
We are in it! A new school year, new challenges, a new routine. Very different from last year and that is, in our case, not a bad thing. I am though, more exhausted than other exhausted days. For that reason, I decided to repost a blog from a few months ago where we got to […]
Happy Dog Daze
I’ve shared so many times before about the incredible role that dogs play in grief recovery, especially for the widowed population. For several years I’ve written and blogged about an event called National Dog Week, observed each September, since 1928, and many other well-deserved observances that honor all things dog. Wednesday, canines were honored […]